Homecoming
by Ildera
Summary: His travels are over, for now. What welcome awaits a Prince of Mirkwood in the land he left so long ago?


Heya! I'm back! And with another Leggy fic, no less. Just to warn you, I don't know if I can continue this, so this may just stand as it is. That is, unless any of you have any suggestions I could use . . .  
  
If this was mine, I would be making millions from it by now, not just posting my inane ideas on the internet. Still don't know who it belongs to? Oh, alright. J.R.R.Tolkien, I apologise for this terrible rendition of your canon characters. Happy?  
  
Please read and review, 'cos like I said, I need suggestions if you want this to keep going. If you like, tell me why. If you no like, please explain why so I can sort it. Please . . .  
  
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . .  
  
*~*~*  
  
Homecoming  
  
*~*~*  
  
Two voices echoed through the valley, one gruff, one smooth, combining to make a pleasant sound. The smoother voice wound around the other in elaborate counter-melody that instantly betrayed his status as an Elf. His companion was a Dwarf, and that in itself was enough to identify them.  
  
The song wound to a close, Gimli trying not to laugh as Legolas' voice climbed the higher reaches of contralto in the final bars. They had been walking together for over two years, now, since the Ring, visiting various places they each thought the other might like.  
  
'Tell me, my friend, just what is so un-natural about living underground?' Gimli demanded of his tall companion.  
  
Legolas sighed. They'd gone over this a few times already.  
  
'I didn't say it was un-natural, I just said it wouldn't be right for Elves,' he said quietly. 'For some reason, we have to be able to see the sky, or we grow very uncomfortable. You know this, you saw what I was like in Moria.'  
  
'If that is uncomfortable, Master Elf, I would give a great deal to see you completely relaxed,' the Dwarf laughed. 'Where are we going, anyway?'  
  
Legolas smiled at his friend's high spirits.  
  
'We're going through Mirkwood to Erador, my friend. There are people we both need to see.'  
  
A slow grin crossed Gimli's face as he realised that he would be able to see his father and brothers again. Not for the first time, he was grateful for his friend's forward thinking. Legolas must have had this route planned out for the last two years, all the time they had been travelling together since King Elessar's wedding.  
  
'It seems I must thank you once again, Legolas,' he said quietly. 'I have had a longing for family these past few months.'  
  
'I know,' the Elf told him. 'That same longing has dwelt in my heart.'  
  
The silence that fell around them was filled with bittersweet memories of those they had left behind to live the life they lived. It seemed that even the creatures of the forest around them had fallen silent to aid their remembrance of those that loved them.  
  
'Aye,' sighed Gimli. 'Twill be a grand thing to be amongst family again.'  
  
Legolas nodded with a sigh of his own, his eyes on the path before them, his heart singing for home.  
  
*~*~*  
  
At some point during the next day, they entered the boundaries of Mirkwood, and Gimli became instantly aware of being watched all the time. Legolas, too, it seemed, was ill at ease under such scrutiny, and called the invisible watchers out to face him. Several Elves slipped from the shadows beneath the trees, bowing low to their Prince.  
  
'Welcome home, your highness.'  
  
Legolas brushed the greeting to one side.  
  
'Tulco, we established my status years ago, do we really need to go over it every time we meet?'  
  
Tulco grinned at his weary tone. This was obviously an old conversation that had never had closure.  
  
'I suppose not, your highness, but the proprieties must be kept up,' he replied, in an exact copy of Legolas' tone.  
  
'I hate propriety,' Legolas muttered, as the grin on his own face grew wider.  
  
Then, with a yell of joy, both Elves threw themselves at one another and embraced, each laughing at the other's appearance and mannerisms that had grown during Legolas' time away. The other Elves joined in, each greeting their old friend in their own way, and were happy to accept Gimli into their trust since Legolas had done so.  
  
The little group walked happily through the woods, engaged in conversation. Tulco walked beside Legolas, both men sharing stories of their time apart. Inevitably, the talk turned to family, as it always would, and the Prince's mood took a reflective turn.  
  
'How is my father?' he asked, anxious to hear news of Thranduil, King of the Mirkwood Elves.  
  
'He's well, all things considered,' Tulco said softly. 'The birth of his fourth grandchild cheered him greatly. He dotes on her.'  
  
Legolas laughed, though the sound carried a sorrowful note.  
  
'I wish I had been there to see it,' he murmured, once again lost in memories.  
  
Tulco sensed the change, and pounced on it, never one to miss an opportunity to rub in a point.  
  
'Alde missed you,' he said, his voice quiet.  
  
Legolas sighed heavily.  
  
'I know,' he nodded. 'My heart grieves every moment we are apart, but so much has happened . . . I hardly know how to begin to explain.'  
  
'She'll understand,' Tulco assured him. 'It's me you have to explain to. I love my sister very much, Legolas, and she was vulnerable in the weeks after you left. We both could have lost her.'  
  
Legolas' face paled suddenly as he comprehended the intense grief Alde must have felt in his absence. He turned to Tulco, determined to set the record straight.  
  
'If I had known it would hurt her so much, I would never have left. But you know her, she's your sister. She wouldn't tell me such a thing if she thought it would hold me back. No amount of pleading would tear the words from her lips.'  
  
Tulco was nodding, his hands spread in peaceful posture.  
  
'I know, I know, it's wrong for me to blame only you,' he conceded. 'But you didn't have to watch her fade before the birth. It was only after Melde was born that she began to pick up. Did you get her message?'  
  
The Prince nodded.  
  
'Just before we left Rivendell. It cheered my heart greatly as we set out.'  
  
Tulco grinned at the soft smile on his friend's face.  
  
'I can imagine.'  
  
As they walked, Gimli could notice slight differences in the forest around them. The trees were imperceptibly thicker, growing closer together as if to warn people from leaving the path to venture through the woods. He knew, from his father's experience, how zealously the Elves guarded Mirkwood, and guessed that they had encouraged the trees to grow in this fashion.  
  
Torn between listening to the intriguing conversation ahead of him, and concentrating on the path, he soon lost all sense of the direction they were heading, drawn in by the mystery of the woman they spoke of. Whoever she was, she had been close to his friend before he had left for the council at Rivendell, and she now had a child, but so far there had been no clue as to her identity in connection with the Prince of Mirkwood. Was she perhaps an old sweetheart who had found another during Legolas' time away?  
  
The little group traversed the edge of a great waterfall, slipping behind the curtain of water to where a great door stood firmly closed. Tulco raised his head and whistled a certain sequence of notes, which echoed around the rock cave in which they stood. After a few moments, the whistle returned to them and the door swung inwards. They slipped inside, and Gimli found himself the first Dwarf to set foot in the Elven city of Mirkwood of his own violition. His jaw dropped.  
  
He had thought Rivendell exquisite, Lothlorien beautiful, but he could not find words to describe the beauty of Mirkwood. As in Lothlorien, the city wound its way around many of the great trees in the forest, but also combined the natural architecture with buildings of stone. This combination, with the bustle of people around it, made the city somehow more alluring, more real than others of its ilk.  
  
Suddenly it came to him. The reason Mirkwood was possessed of a beauty beyond even Lorien was life. The elves within this city went about their daily life without fear of attack, or discovery, and so were happy to live openly, not hiding away between the trees. And there were children. Never, in all his travels, had Gimli seen an elven child, and yet suddenly could not look in any direction without his eyes coming to rest on one, playing or walking with their parents.  
  
There was an ear-splitting yell, and Legolas turned just in time to catch the young ones bearing down on him. His grin widened as he gathered the three into his arms, holding them as tightly as he dared. They held him just as tightly, two boys with a girl in their midst grasping on tightly to someone who obviously meant a great deal to them.  
  
Legolas pulled away to kneel before them, brushing the hair from the girl's eyes.  
  
'It is wonderful to see you again, ai er [little one],' he murmured, pressing a light kiss to her forehead. She grinned and returned the kiss, resting her cheek against his for a few moments before stepping aside for her brothers.  
  
The eldest boy hung back while the other, a small specimen with large dark blue eyes, threw himself into Legolas' arms.  
  
'I missed you, atar [father],' he murmured.  
  
'And I, you, Alcon,' his father replied, lifting the boy into his arms, since he refused to let go. He turned to the last of his children, standing quietly off to one side.  
  
'Eldatur, you've grown,' he said softly, a little wary of his acceptance having been away so long.  
  
The boy regarded him for a few moments, before stepping forward into his embrace.  
  
'Welcome home, atar.'  
  
Touched by this scene, Gimli couldn't help but feel he was intruding on what should be a private moment. He stepped to Tulco's side.  
  
'Send him off to his wife,' he said, having guessed now the nature of the conversation in the woods. 'I'll go and make myself known to Thranduil, and wait for him at the palace.'  
  
With that, he stumped off with a couple of Elves by his side. Legolas gazed after him gratefully, having heard the not-so-quiet instructions being given out. Tulco stared at him impassively.  
  
'She's waiting, Legolas.'  
  
The grin returned, a look of longing and love on the young Elf's face momentarily making him more beautiful than before. His daughter slipped her hand into his.  
  
'Yes, Laure?'  
  
She smiled shyly up at him.  
  
'Atara [Mother] will want to see you.'  
  
Tugging on his hand, she led him down the familiar paths to where he had made his home all those years ago with the woman of his choice, forfeiting any chance to the throne with no regrets. Eldatur relieved his father of Alcon, quieting the struggles with a look that could have stopped orcs in their tracks, as Laure ran into the house shouting for her mother to come and see.  
  
Legolas felt his breath stick in his throat as Alde came to the door. Her eyes fell on him and she seemed to freeze, but for the tiny girl-child toddling at her feet. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her, still wearing her emotions on her sleeve for all to see. Shock, joy, deep love, all flashed across her face as she gazed upon her husband.  
  
The child stumbled, breaking the spell as her mother stooped to lift her into her arms. Legolas felt himself move forwards to greet them, overwhelmed by the sight of his youngest child, and the woman whose face had haunted his dreams, kept him going for over two years. He laid a hand against the child's cheek, and she instinctively turned towards him, luminous brown eyes lifting to look into his.  
  
'Father?' she asked softly.  
  
Legolas smiled and nodded, grateful to see that the call of the blood still extended past time and touch. Tiny fingers wrapped about his own as he bent to kiss the soft curls that adorned Melde's head.  
  
He raised his eyes to Alde's, and saw there forgiveness for his absence. Tears of joy sparkled in the brown orbs as he bent again to kiss her softly, mindful of the child in her arms.  
  
'Melamin [my love], it has been too long,' he whispered. 'I am sorry.'  
  
Alde smiled, lifting a hand to wipe away the tear that had fallen from his eye with the same tenderness she had shown him in the years before he had left. The children stood around, touched by the simple love their parents shared. Legolas looked around at his family, and sighed in deep satisfaction. He was home. 


End file.
